7Days EuroCup Opens 2018-19 With Six Games

 The 7Days EuroCup officially opened the 2018-19 regular season on October 2nd with six games on tap for fans to appreciate and enjoy. 12 of the 24 teams took to the hardwood to get things started.

Group A

Galatasaray Istanbul welcomed the new season with an 84-73 win over MoraBanc Andorra. The Turkish club was led by the duo of Nigel Hayes and Zach Auguste, who dropped 19 and 18 points, respectively. Galatasaray overcame Andorra’s rebounding advantage thanks to some efficient scoring by its players. They got easy baskets in transition converting baskets off most of their 11 steals in the game.

Serbian powerhouse Crvena Zvezda MTS Beograd were met with similar success in their opener. They successfully held off Ratiopharm Ulm to win 88-73. Red Star was leaned on their three-point shooting and it paid off. The team knocked down 10 triples in the game to keep their opponents at bay. Billy Baron scored a game-high 19 points to anchor their offense.

Isaac Fortu put up an impressive performance for Ulm, as he dropped 16 points, six rebounds, and two treys.

Group B

ALBA Berlin rode a 20-point explosion from Niels Giffy to a 107-91 victory over Tofas Bursa. He heated up at the right time for his team and torched Tofas Bursa with 4-of-6 shooting from downtown. He did not host a one-man show, however, and led four other teammates to score in double figures. His performance was actually matched by Tofas’ Demonte Harper who answered with 20 points of his own.

At the end of the day, it boiled down to fundamentals and execution. ALBA Berlin controlled the boards and saw more success at finding open players, leading to a 7-assist advantage.

In the other game, Lokomotiv Kuban secured themselves the only road win of the evening as they defeated Arka Gdynia 73-80. It was a close game by all accounts and Loko got a big boost from former NBA guard Isaiah Whitehead who led the team with a game-high 17 points and six rebounds.

Group C

Valencia Basket clawed their way back from a big deficit and parlayed their homecourt advantage into a win over ASVEL to the tune of 84-62. Will Thomas provided a much-needed spark of offense for them off the bench and finished with a game-high 16 points.

The turning point in the game was when Valencia hunkered down and focused on defense. Their 10 steals in the game were instrumental in turning the tide in their favor.

Group D

Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius got on the board with a notch in the win column. A tight rotation allowed them to grind out an 80-72 win over Unicaja Malaga. The two-time champs got a leg up thanks to the 18-point performance by Eimantas Bendzius. Credit does go to the Lithuanian club’s defense as it kept them in control of the game.